The present invention is in the field of electrical power systems and, more particularly, those power systems which produce direct current (DC) that is converted to alternating current (AC).
Many electrical power systems use a DC power source to supply electrical power to AC loads. An inverter operating with a pulse width modulation (PWM) system is commonly used to convert the DC power to AC power. PWM inverters may be designed to produce three phase power outputs at a desired AC frequency such as 400 hertz (Hz.). But, as is well known, three phase PWM inverters inherently deliver an output that includes a DC component. Presence of an excessive DC component in the output may have an adverse effect on AC loads that may be driven by the output. This may be particularly problematic for power systems in a vehicle such as an aircraft or aerospace vehicle. Consequently, electrical distribution systems that utilize AC power from a PWM inverter are often constructed so that the DC component may be removed through galvanic isolation.
Numerous prior art systems are employed to reduce the adverse effects of such DC components. For example, a transformer may be used to isolate the PWM inverter from the AC loads. Typically such a transformer may be a gapped-core type transformer designed to prevent it from being saturated when exposed to even order harmonics or the DC component. Transformers of this type are expensive. In a power system of an aerospace vehicle, transformers may also add undesirable weight.
Other prior art systems are directed to reducing the DC component. Descriptions of various systems for reducing the DC component are disclosed in US Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0007969A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,400. The systems of these disclosures provide for an analysis of an output of a PWM inverter to determine a ratio between a positive portion of an AC waveform and a negative portion of the waveform of the output. The determined ratio may be considered to be indicative of an amount of DC component in the output. Various methods are employed to compensate for the thus quantified DC component so that AC power is delivered to a power distribution system with a reduced DC component.
It must be noted that in a typical PWM inverter output, the DC component represents a very small portion of an overall voltage of the output. Typically, even in an uncompensated 115 volt root-mean-square (Vrms) output, the DC component may be one volt or less. Consequently, the measuring systems of the prior art are directed at attempting to accurately quantify a DC voltage value that is only 1% or less of the overall voltage being measured. In the context of such a measurement system, it is difficult to provide an accurate quantification of the DC component.
Present day power distribution systems, particularly those used in aerospace vehicles may require that a DC component is less than 1/10% of the AC voltage. Such rigorous requirements demand measurement and compensation accuracy that is not available from prior art systems. If, for example, quantification of the DC component must be made to an accuracy of +/−0.1V, then it is exceedingly difficult to achieve the requisite accuracy when the overall DC component represents only a small fraction of the measured voltage, i.e. 115 Vrms.
As can be seen, there is a need to provide a system for distributing power from a PWM inverter which precludes a need for an isolation transformer. Additionally there is a need to provide a system for precisely quantifying a DC component in AC power produced by the PWM inverter and then reducing the adverse effects of the DC component. Also, in the context of aerospace applications, there is a need to provide control system redundancy.